Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for ReligionUnplugged.com and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.
For Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr., Nov. 5 will mark not just the presidential election but also his birthday. This is the third time this has happened in his lifetime, and it made him curious about 2024’s parallels, if any, with 1968 and 1996.
In some ways, McDonald's is like a church. Nearly every town has one. And people of all kinds are welcome.
Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr. recounts his adventures as a roving religion reporter. Ross has covered news and features in all 50 states and 18 countries.
It's baseball playoff time, and six remaining teams look to make it to baseball's proverbial promised land. Here's why some of their fans have such a special — even spiritual — connection to the teams.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, faith-based disaster relief ministries are working alongside neighbors to feed survivors and clear damage.
When a legend invites you to the Big House, you go. The story of how our columnist ended up at a Michigan Wolverines game with basketball coach Garth Pleasant, who won 720 games and four small-college national championships.
As the two-year Adventures in Missions program — known as AIM — begins, participants get instruction on stewardship, security procedures, personal hygiene and respectful treatment of the Sunset Church of Christ members who house them. For nearly a decade, another topic — one often avoided by Christians — has gained prominent attention at AIM’s annual orientation. Sexual trauma.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist is leaving the Wall Street Journal for the National Catholic Reporter. Why this is a surprise — and why it's not.
SOF Missions helps veterans who — like retired Air Force Lt. Col. Damon Friedman — struggle with PTSD and other challenges from military service. At the 23rd anniversary of 9/11, many of those who served their country overseas still fight a war at home. “I’m telling you, I was going to become a statistic,” Friedman said.
The new "Reagan" biopic focuses on Ronald Reagan's role in the Cold War and the fight against Soviet communism. But faith emerges as a major storyline in the 135-minute biopic.
The new movie "You Gotta Believe," about a youth baseball team's improbable journey all the way to the Little League World Series, offers a fleeting glimpse of faith. But in real life, religion played a more crucial role.
The Baltimore Orioles hosted the team's first Faith Night promotion this week. The Orioles joined a trend of MLB franchises doing so.
The New Garden Church is not a traditional Church of Christ. Then again, it’s not trying to be. The church plant — which grew out of the Hermitage Church of Christ, a half-century-old congregation that closed in 2018 — seeks to reach a new generation with the Gospel.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, spoke recently inside the Board of Education conference room at the state Capitol complex in Oklahoma City. The interview came amid a national debate that every teacher in Oklahoma must be provided with physical copies of the Bible, the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Ten Commandments.
Like it or not, fights over religion in public schools seem unlikely to vanish any time soon. Look for such controversies to remain prominent in the news.
In the summer heat, here are a few notes of interest from the world of religion news.
News doesn’t happen on a 9-to-5 schedule. Particularly during the 24/7 era of social media, journalists find themselves on the clock pretty much all the time.
Does God Almighty want President Joe Biden to exit the race? Does God Almighty want a second term for former President Donald Trump? America’s presidential candidates keep invoking a higher power in the 2024 campaign.
The morning after a gunman perched atop a roof narrowly missed killing former President Donald Trump, Christians across the U.S. came together Sunday — as always — to worship God and pray. Many preachers addressed the assassination attempt from the pulpit.
While religion in public schools keeps making national headlines, “released time” Bible classes are less well known. But they, too, have gained legislative attention in several states recently.
A grease fire that severely burned Richard Inyang on his stomach, arms, hands and upper thighs could have killed him. But it didn’t. As the Minnesota preacher sees it, the Lord still has a purpose for him. After his brush with death, the longtime missionary from Nigeria has no doubt about that.
In Weekend Plug-in, columnist Bobby Ross Jr. reflects on his parents’ 60th anniversary — and what their legacy of faith and love has meant to him.
Christians striving to fulfill the Great Commission are embracing technological advances, despite concerns about artificial intelligence.
The Southern Baptist Convention conducted its annual meeting in Indianapolis this week. The denomination’s sex abuse scandal — while perhaps overshadowed by a vote on women pastors and a resolution opposing in vitro fertilization — remained a key topic of discussion.
With grocery prices high and pandemic-era benefit programs ended, many churches across the nation report increased demand for food benevolence. Minneapolis Central launched its food ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic — four years later, the number of needy families relying on the ministry has more than doubled, averaging between 325 and 375 per week.
Jason and Jennifer Carroll pray for Haiti as the poor, developing nation deals with unrelenting gang violence. Two American missionaries and a Haitian national were killed in an ambush last week.
Twenty years ago, I worked as a Dallas-based religion reporter for The Associated Press. Many of the stories that dominated the headlines then remain relevant today.
Jelly Roll is on a roll. The “Son of a Sinner” artist — whose songs feature raw, religious lyrics that wrestle with his troubled past — won another big award on Thursday night.
(REVIEW) “Ghosted” focuses on how the Frenches lost friends and colleagues alike when they became critics of Donald Trump, the twice-divorced billionaire who won the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and ascended to the White House.
The story of the late Bob and Helen Bland is as ordinary as it is extraordinary, right down to their last name. Yet on a blue-sky Sunday afternoon, a crowd of friends, family and fellow Christians gathered amid 100-foot cottonwood trees with a slight whiff of nature in the breeze to celebrate the couple’s legacy.